Life on BBC1 on Tuesday was billed as a spin-off of gripping thriller Doctor Foster – although I’d say it was more a distant cousin twice removed.
You’ll remember Doctor Foster for Suranne Jones’s wronged GP, seeking revenge on her creepy
philandering husband who was having it off with Jodie Comer.
What you may not remember is their neighbour Anna, played by Victoria Hamilton, who was mostly
available for curtain-twitching and angsty wine-drinking.
Writer Mike Bartlett felt there was more to give when it came to Anna’s story, so here she is again – recently divorced, with a new haircut and even a new name.
‘Belle’ is on the verge of alcoholism and sabotages her own cables just for a chance of bedding the electrician.
This is all set in one large house in Manchester, with several different plotlines following the residents of the house’s four individual flats.
In Love Actually-style, the stories unfold separately and then start to intertwine.
Alison Steadman was the scene-stealer for me as Gail, simultaneously a manic, funny, fussing mum and sad woman whose spark has been stamped out by her controlling husband Henry, played by Peter Davison.
“I used to do things,” she tells her disinterested family. “I was in a band. I smoked pot.”
By the end of episode one, Gail was ready to leave Henry after years of marriage but he announced he had six months to live.
Yes, the twists come thick and fast.
Down the hall, in the least believable storyline, Adrian Lester plays pensive English teacher David, who hits it off with an over-friendly, half-naked young woman on holiday.
Because that happens to all middle-aged teachers who look sad in their rented UK cottage. He’d just had a heartfelt goodbye with wife Kelly, played by Rachael Stirling, but the misty scenes should have given you a Sixth Sense.
Yes, spoiler alert, his wife is dead. I would have rolled my eyes, but I was too busy sobbing.
In other news, Hannah, played by Corrie’s Melissa Johns, was pregnant and totally cool – no, really – about having a relationship with the baby’s dad Andy, as well as her boyfriend Liam.
They all tripped awkwardly around a baby shop together and then Hannah had a dramatic birth on her living room floor.
I expected Life to be a bit Cold Feet, all soapy melodrama and big laughs, but while there is a thread of humour throughout, there are darker psychological elements and high tension.
That said, it’s not like Doctor Foster, in that no one is having hate-sex on the dining room table. Well, not yet anyway.
